A lot has been written about Sam & Max: Freelance Police (2004) over the years. It would hardly seem to have gotten more relevant during that time, and many would reasonably argue that there isn’t much left to say on the subject.
We disagreed, and what’s more decided that we were the only ones qualified to prove our conviction that the history of Sam & Max 2 had not yet fully and satisfactorily been entered into public record. We accomplished this show of respect to a heady subject by - literally, according to some definitions - writing the book on it. Weep for our priorities and cozy up next to the fireplace with our indefensible digital tome, The Unabridged History of Sam & Max 2: A Mixnmojo Memoir.
The most unwieldy article Mixnmojo has ever published has been a long time coming. Hindsight tells us that the cancellation of Sam & Max 2 is the major event in The Mojo Histories™, and the theory was that the definitive account of the project’s life, death and legacy could only be written this far out and by the site that, for better or for worse, it had the most impact on.
This was a job too important to be left to the professionals, who would have left out the strikethrough humor and Dan Pettit references. Nevertheless, we did bamboozle William Eaken into crafting us professional-grade header art, and you’ll want to be downloading that (link inside) in its full-resolution glory because: my word. And in case you die of natural causes before reaching the appendix, I should point out here that all the new interviews we conducted for the article have been organized as a separate feature for convenience.
Yes, the fact that there is an appendix should raise some red flags. It took a minute to put this monstrosity together (At one point, this was meant to be a tenth anniversary article, then we punted to the fifteenth anniversary before giving up on a pretty number altogether), and at the outset no one could have predicted it would ultimately clock in at this biblical word count, but the important thing is that Mojo’s equivalent of The Aeneid is now here and available for your consumption. And unlike that hack Virgil, we finished what we started.
Now leave us alone, would you?
Regardless, that was some mighty fine writing and amazing journalism. Thanks Jason for documenting that fiasco so thoroughly, as well as analyzing the sh*t out of it. It really did have an immense impact on this website and community.
So glad Mixnmojo is still around, no one else hits that sweet spot of saccharine and irreverent quite as well
mstemmle
That there is a damn fine bit of writing. I'm not sure I write that much about Freelance Police without a stiff drink. Or ten.
Mike, it means a lot that you would stop by and offer such kind words about the article -- or, as we refer to it internally, "An optional, 30,000 word caption for a preposterously stunning Will Eaken illustration."
mstemmle
That there is a damn fine bit of writing. I'm not sure I could write that much about Freelance Police without a stiff drink. Or ten.
mstemmle
That there is a damn fine bit of writing. I'm not sure I could write that much about Freelance Police without a stiff drink. Or ten.
"LucasArts as an adventure game developer may have had to die. It just didn’t have to be murdered."
:-)
elTee
Jason
we were no more successful in making contact with Mary Bihr than we were with Randy Breen.
There's an interview with Mary Bihr somewhere in our archives. I tried to rebuild some bridges with LucasArts when they had announced the first Monkey Island special edition. Every single difficult question I had for her was vetoed by LucasArts, they were not willing to talk about this at all. With hindsight, Gabez's 'Achtung, baby' email probably hadn't helped. Anyway, I remember feeling defeated and disappointed by the final interview because it was clear all Mary was interested in was generic marketing type quotes rather than any genuine reflection or discussion.
Bihr sits on the board of IEP these days, but they wouldn't buzz me through the cast iron security gate. You are probably right that I wouldn't have gotten more than boilerplate stuff, but I would have been happy to get her on the record all the same. Plus, you never know how much of the "shields up" mentality you were up against is actually Mary, the person, as opposed to Mary, the Lucasfilm Executive, who I'm sure is under pretty strict directives when it comes to correspondence with a fan site.
As the appendix states, I see this as a living document, so anybody who we couldn't get a hold of or who feels we got it wrong and is in a position to know better is perfectly welcome to write in to us, call us fools and get their position incorporated into a revision.
kelmer
Lol you brought back some memories with that feud with The Inventory. I am a bit ashamed of the whole thing and the pathetic image presented in that thread by all parties(and for my broken English back then).
The entire Bad Brain bringing Freelance Police back, then making a stupid online puzzle to hand out the scoop as a prize, only to give us at Aventura y CIA misleading information genuinely had an impact on us that we didn't really know how to handle back then.
Sad, shameful episode that almost ended up with a lawsuit on our website.
Sadness and shame plus sixteen years equals good clean comedy!
Seriously, go easy on yourself. We all got Kierdorf'd in the end.
Jason
we were no more successful in making contact with Mary Bihr than we were with Randy Breen.
There's an interview with Mary Bihr somewhere in our archives. I tried to rebuild some bridges with LucasArts when they had announced the first Monkey Island special edition. Every single difficult question I had for her was vetoed by LucasArts, they were not willing to talk about this at all. With hindsight, Gabez's 'Achtung, baby' email probably hadn't helped. Anyway, I remember feeling defeated and disappointed by the final interview because it was clear all Mary was interested in was generic marketing type quotes rather than any genuine reflection or discussion.
kelmer
Lol you brought back some memories with that feud with The Inventory. I am a bit ashamed of the whole thing and the pathetic image presented in that thread by all parties(and for my broken English back then).
(and i mean that link in the sources list)
The entire Bad Brain bringing Freelance Police back, then making a stupid online puzzle to hand out the scoop as a prize, only to give us at Aventura y CIA misleading information genuinely had an impact on us that we didn't really know how to handle back then.
Sad, shameful episode that almost ended up with a lawsuit on our website.